Dawn Tan Workshop

I've been a fan of Melbourne-based illustrator and all-round creative Dawn Tan for such a long time and first remember hearing about her work back when she was a student, making human sized mashmallow and Ritz packets. Now Dawn's work regularly appears all over the place, including Frankie magazine, and she sells art prints, cards, does custom drawings and makes gorgeous soap. She's also a teacher and last year my 6-year-old niece attended a regular after-school art class with Dawn, where she produced amazing work. My sister was very impressed, so I decided to give her a Dawn Tan workshop voucher for Christmas - that way we could do a class together and get back to our crafty roots.

The class we booked is a newie - a wonton drawing and cooking workshop - and it was on Saturday. I learnt heaps - from how paint is made to how to clean and store your brushes, as well as different watercolour techniques such as layering and outlining. And we also learnt how to make an amazing wonton soup, which we then got to eat! I highly recommend attending one of Dawn's workshops and now can't wait to hear more about her latest adventure, Little Art Yurt. In the meantime, here are some pictures from the class.

Drawing and painting the ingredients that were to become our lunch.

Drawing and painting the ingredients that were to become our lunch.

Our classmates brought along fresh berries they'd picked from their yard!

Our classmates brought along fresh berries they'd picked from their yard!

Dawn's art is in the frame and our work dried underneath.

Dawn's art is in the frame and our work dried underneath.

The wonton soup we made for lunch! So good.

The wonton soup we made for lunch! So good.

September

Not only is it September, but it's nearly the end of September. How did this happen? The Royal Melbourne Show is on, another radiothon is over for my favourite station RRR and it's definitely spring in still-cold Melbourne.

Here are some snaps of the things I've been working on lately - lots of ceramics, lots of watercolour patterns and lots of fabric (that I don't have proper photos of yet), soon to be added to the shop and/or for sale at some upcoming events

Lots of new ceramic spoons including the above.

Lots of new ceramic spoons including the above.

The first and only mug I've ever made. 

The first and only mug I've ever made. 

Lots of hand painted porcelain studs now available in my shop.

Lots of hand painted porcelain studs now available in my shop.

I'm obsessed with pattern making in watercolour. This is my latest.

I'm obsessed with pattern making in watercolour. This is my latest.

I did an ink audit this week and sorted them by colour group. Pinks and reds win.

I did an ink audit this week and sorted them by colour group. Pinks and reds win.

This cake is THE best banana cake ever. Thanks, Hello Lunch Lady.

This cake is THE best banana cake ever. Thanks, Hello Lunch Lady.

On a different not, today I listened to this podcast from The Jealous Curator while working (found via Tess at Creative Minds Publishing & CWC) and recommend it to any creatives who love hearing artists talking about their work and their thoughts. Sandra Eterovic is so generous with her thoughts and her ideas, what a gem.

And finally, there's a post about me at the Maribyrnong Makers Market blog. 

 

Patterns: Watercolours (& fabric packs)

Because screenprinting requires a different separation for each colour, I tend to think about design/patterns in a certain way. As I'm also a massive fan of minimal colour palettes (two or three colours maximum), this has been just fine. But lately I've had a hankering for a change, so the other day I bought a set of watercolours. Here are a few patterns I've been playing around with (ie: me going colour crazy).

On a different note, I've just posted a couple of fabric packs in my Etsy shop. Snap them up while you can...